Momentum builds in county to provide more information to public about health status of mobile food operations

Roberts met last week met with Department of Environmental Health staff to make known his desire after The Watchdog and media partner 10News began asking questions.

“This seems so logical to me that I was embarrassed we weren’t already doing it,” Roberts said. “We’re doing the inspection work already, so to convert those inspections to a letter grade will add to the comfort the public will have. My expectation is that we’ll see some slight overall improvement in the number of violations and corrections that are needed.”

Elizabeth Pozzebon, assistant director of the county’s Department of Environmental Health, said it had chosen not to post a grade card on trucks because they move around a great deal both within the county and outside the state and have limited hours of operation.

More recently, her department had been mulling various options — including grade cards — for providing additional food safety information to the public, she added.

The department, though, did not want to initiate a new program until it transitions later this year from paper reports to an electronic system that will allow the inspection results to be viewed online, Pozzebon said.

“We are aware of what L.A. is doing and have been monitoring them to see what lessons they learn along the way,” Pozzebon said.

She pointed out that mobile food operations are required to post signage on their vehicles stating that their last inspection report is available for review at the truck. While the department provides such paper signs, several food truck operators contacted by The Watchdog said they had never been given such a sign.

“Our department is not mandated to provide them,” Pozzebon said.

During a random check of eight food trucks conducted by The Watchdog and 10News, five were able to produce their most recent inspection report. Three could not, and two of those mistakenly said they were not required to do so.

In San Francisco, the county’s health department does not issue letter-grade placards for restaurants or mobile facilities, but does give out numerical scores that can be viewed online. The county’s regulations state that food service establishments must post the actual inspections in a visible place “so that the public does not have to ask to see the report.”

San Diego food truck operators said they hadn’t given much thought to being part of a letter-grading system but said it could benefit them.

“I would love to have a letter A on my truck,” said Marko Pavlinovic, owner of Mangia Mangia, which specializes in Italian food. “If we have the chance to get letter grades on this new generation of trucks, that will help people understand we are preparing food safely. Some people are skeptical about eating from food trucks.”

Food truck operators in Los Angeles have been generally pleased with the letter-grading system, according to the Southern California Mobile Vendors Association. Sumant Pardal, who operates India Jones in Los Angeles, said it has raised the food safety bar for all operators.

“From a customer’s point of view, when they see a letter grade, they realize it’s a legitimate business that serves quality food,” he said. “There should be no differentiation (in food safety) whether you’re a million-dollar restaurant or a $20,000 truck.”